


Kitten Trouble

by Maxie_A



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, With a baby kitten, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 09:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6749065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxie_A/pseuds/Maxie_A
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spider-man is always going to be the laughing stock of the city, even when he didn't technically do anything embarrassing. What does he have to do to get some respect from the super community around here?!</p>
<p>— In which Peter is a drama queen, and New York is starting to love their Spidery dork</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kitten Trouble

“Stuff like this never happens to Captain America! Or Black Widow, or Falcon, or any superhero I can name! But of course, of _fudging_ course, _every_ embarrassing thing that _every_ other hero seems to avoid _has_ to happen to me!”

Spider-man’s voice doesn’t carry very far as he speedily swings from building to building, forgetting any semblance of grace he once had, now seeming to run away from something dangerous and humiliating. That being his problems. He is running away from his problems.

“I mean, I can’t stop for a moment and gush over a stupid, albeit very adorable, animal for just, I dunno, _one second?!_ Just one! I mean, I thought I was alone, and I just finished chucking Rhino’s bruised butt all the way to China, so I saw the cat and decided, hey! That little buddy looks hungry and in need of affection! But _no_ , Spider-man’s not allowed a second of peace!”

He finally lands on top of a tall office building, crouching just over the very edge and looking at the New Yorkers down below, eyeing every single one laughing and cooing at whatever is on their phone screen.

“Some lady just had to stay behind, rather than _evacuate_ like she was _told to do_ , and take a video of me! Isn’t there a law against videoing someone without their consent or something? I mean, I won’t sue or anything, that’s horrible, she was just an old lady, but _c’mon!_ Every stupidhero, not super, _stupidhero_ , yeah-huh, I just made that up. Every _stupidhero_ I’ve seen since has immediately laughed at the sight of me! _Villains_ are laughing at me! Excuse me for having a heart, _Doc Ock_ , I didn’t realise it was a _crime_ to feed a poor bony kitten in the middle of a battle damaged street!”

The video was perfectly filmed, sadly, and had a clear shot of Spider-man going over to an abandoned hotdog stand at one side of the street, leaving some money for the owner and making a good hotdog, without any condiments, obviously because he has no idea if a cat can even eat ketchup or mustard, and coming back over to feed the poor malnourished, dirty white kitten. It’s blue eyes were a force to be reckoned with, honestly, and they just lit up when he started breaking the treat into little pieces and feeding it to the poor thing. It continued to mewl for more once it was done with a piece, until finally there wasn’t anything left. In the video, it seems as if Spidey tries to look and see if he has any more money on him, and when he finds that he doesn’t, he sighs and picks up the kitten, petting it to calm down it’s hungry whimpers. It even shows him whispering sweet little nicknames, like 'darling' and 'baby' and 'honey drop' in a high pitched voice.  It’s around the time he starts scratching it's chin that he notices the lady cooing over by an alley, videotaping him, and with a startled jolt, he webs away, kitten in hand.

Obviously he took the kitten to his apartment. Thank goodness he’s allowed pets, otherwise he’d be in a messy situation. And thank goodness the kitten isn’t particularly loud once it’s fed. After he had gone home with the poor thing, he scoured the internet to see if he could feed it anything that’s in his fridge. He already knew chocolate and nuts were a big no-no, and that milk wasn’t the best option, but he was surprised to find that canned tuna definitely won’t help with it’s malnutrition. He was also surprised to learn that certain types of avocados were toxic to cats as well. Never expected that.

In the end, he decides to put a small dish of milk, because apparently so long as it’s a little kitten, dairy is okay, and some cooked fish he had leftover by the corner of the kitchen for it. It eats until it’s belly is bulging, and soon after, falls asleep, content.

He has no idea what he’s gonna do about this recent development. He had no experience in taking care of an animal, hell he doesn’t even know how to _take care of himself_ half the time, and he certainly has no idea how he’s going to go about his life as if he totally wasn’t Spider-man when there’s video evidence of Spider-man taking that same exact kitten!

“I can’t show the little thing to Aunt May. She’s smart, and she’s seen enough proof of me being Spider-man already. If I show her the cat, she’ll definitely know. If Gwen were here, she’d know what to do… And _hell_ , I’m not showing it to _Harry_. There are a _lot_ of reasons not to show it to Harry.”

Sighing in frustration, the webbed hero jumps down the building, letting the air rush past his ears to block out the outside noise, hoping it would clear his thoughts, and began swinging back to his apartment.

* * *

 

He briefly thought about giving it up to a pet store.

He honest to god thought that would be the best idea. He shouldn't take a cat when he has _no resources_ to actually take care of the little thing. Not to mention keeping it may or may not reveal his identity, since everyone in the entirety of New York knows what it looks like. Then again, there's a lot of dirty little white, blue-eyed kittens in New York, right? Maybe he's being paranoid?

Okay, _maybe,_ but still! Paranoia seemed to have saved his butt several times in the past, and it may very well save him in the future. And in any case, he's gone more often than he's around, and an animal takes time and effort. No matter how adorable and beautiful those blue eyes are, he _can't_ keep the kitten. He just can't.

And finally, after two days of contemplating this, he scoops up the kitten, jumps out his apartment window, (because thankfully no one is really around to see him, and he's already deactivated all the street cameras around,) and swings to the other side of the city, making sure to be nowhere near his house so nobody gets any ideas. 

It takes a while, with him taking small breaks to check on the mewling kitten, who strangely seems more playful than afraid, but he eventually makes it to a nice, homey pet store that looks like a good place to leave the poor dear. He expects the video cameras to be trained on him, this time, as he slows down his swing and lowers himself onto the sidewalk just beside the store. People stare, as expected, but this time he can't really read their expressions. Usually, they would have an obvious dislike for him, since the citizens of New York followed the Daily Bugle like it's their bible. Which is absolute ludicrous. J. Jonah Jameson actually had the nerve to turn the kitten story into something about Spider-man kidnapping the animals of New York, and not just the strays. And there might have been something about eating said critters, but honestly he didn't even read the entire thing before deciding it was a load of malarkey and throwing it into the trash bin. 

So, the webbed hero ignores the obvious stares and entered the pet store, awkwardly making his way to one of the employees stationed behind a desk, who seems to be wearing the same exact expression as every other bystander around. 

"Um, hey," he says, waving awkwardly to the employee. "So, like, I've never actually... I don't remember ever having an animal before, and I didn't actually have any supplies or anything at home, so I've been feeding it meat and fish, but not tuna! I mean, tuna's bad for malnutrition, right? Um, anyways, I've also been giving it mostly water, but I gave it milk the first day, and it's mostly because I didn't have any water and I didn't know if I could give it tap water, and anyways the internet said it's okay to give kittens milk, so I decided oh gosh am I rambling? I'm rambling, aren't I? Jeez—"

"It's— It's fine! Really, it's okay!" The employee holds their hands up as if trying to calm the spidery hero down, an awkward smile stretched on their lips. "Dude, I get it, it's okay. The whole reason I even began working here is because I also found a stray and decided to take care of it. It's no biggie."

The hero seems to calm down at that, tense shoulders relaxing, and he nods. No one can see his expression behind that mask, but it seems as if he's smiling back just as awkwardly.

"Oh... Cool. Okay then. Well, anyways, I don't really have the resources to take care of the little thing, and I know it can't keep eating human food for the rest of it's life. Not to mention the fact that I have absolutely no experience whatsoever, so—"

"It's cool, I've got this," says the employee, 'Jean,' their name tag says. "Follow me."

The spidery hero probably should have questioned why he was following the employee to the back of the store, considering he had no reason to stick around after giving the kitten up, but his mind was blank. It's not as if he was experienced in the art of giving up an animal, so maybe this was like, something he had to do?

"Your kitten seems to be a bit older than eight weeks old, which is lucky for you, because during the first eight weeks of being born, a kitten cannot regulate their temperature, and therefore rely on the body heat of their mother. If it were a bit younger, all that swinging might have done a number on the poor thing."

Guilt gnaws at his insides at this new information, a small 'oh' making it past his lips, low and sad.

"Oh, don't worry, Spidey! You didn't know, and in any case, you looked like you had the kitten properly tucked when you arrived, so it might not have gotten cold anyways."

He can tell that Jean is bluffing, but he doesn't say anything about it.

"So, anyways, since your kitten is a little above eight weeks, it's going to start being very playful and energetic. It'll explore and jump around and run, or, well, to the best of it's abilities. Malnutrition is very glaring when it comes to kittens. They lose weight visibly, they generally continue to cry out until they get food, and they sometimes aren't able to feed themselves if it hits a certain point. If it gets really bad, they eventually lose the energy to even cry out at all. You really saved that kitten, you know. You took it off the streets, where it would definitely have starved to death, and brought it to a warm home and fed it... You're it's hero. And everyone in New York can deny it all they want, but you have a heart of gold."

The hero looks down, and finds the kitten looking straight up at him, blue eyes wide and gorgeous as usual, and warmth spreads across his body. He doesn't want to give this kitten up at all. It's more of a selfish want than a heroic decision, really, and he shouldn't act on it. He tells himself not to.

"I... wouldn't say 'heart of gold,' honestly."

"Well, it must suck that you weren't the person to say it, then, because no matter _what_ your opinion is, I'm most definitely gonna say it exactly. like. _that._ "

Spidey decides that he really likes this 'Jean' person.

* * *

 

In the end, he doesn't give back the kitten.

He _tried_ to, honestly, but Jean apparently totally misinterpreted what he said and decided to help him pick out some food, a few toys, and a nice little bed, small enough to be placed into a little bag. 

Thankfully, whatever pet store he chose was fairly cheap. His wallet didn't suffer too much, and honestly, he'll just have to work at getting even more picture for the Daily Bugle so he can continue to pay for more kitten food later. Specifically kitten food, because apparently a kitten's diet is very different from a cat's diet, according to Jean.

He got Jean's number. He probably shouldn't have taken their number, but he did, because damn Jean was nice and funny and he really needed someone to help him with this whole kitten situation, and his spider-sense hasn't once told him that they were a bad person. He can trust Jean. He just needs to... calm his paranoia a bit.

Gosh, he already has so many connections to Spider-man as Peter Parker already, though. This is such a huge mistake, and he knows it's going to come around and bite him in the butt sooner or later. What sort of unlikely coincidence would it be for Peter Parker to suddenly have a little white kitten, just like Spider-man?

He really needs to make up a story, quick. A really believable one. One that would clear any suspicion against him. 

Gosh, it's not like he has any free time anymore, though! He's a freelance photographer and a science intern, and he had always used those two jobs as excuses. But now, that's not going to cut it anymore! What, should he just find another job? One that'll just magically clear up the fact that he has a—,  _a—_

Oh.

_Oh._

Well, _there's_ an idea.

While he is, indeed, a science intern, and he spends most of his time being Spider-man outside of that life, maybe he could find a way to fit in being an employee at a pet store into his schedule. Not only would he learn a thing or two about caring for animals, but he'll have a better excuse for picking up a kitten. Because everyone knows Peter Parker would never pick up an animal, especially considering he has no experience in caring for one. He'll just have to wait a little while after getting the job, then reveal to his friends and family that he found a kitten, and they'll believe him because at least now he has some knowledge on how to take care of a kitten! _Then_  they'll probably believe he picked one up.

The only problem is that Aunt May is not stupid and she'll most definitely call him out on his B.S. the moment he dishes it out.

He may have to wait quite a while after getting a job at a pet store in order to convince Aunt May. If he even _gets_ a job at a pet store. It might not be that easy. Is there some qualifications he has to meet in order to even apply for the job? Hell, does he even know of any that has a job opening?

And there's also the reason as to why he chose to work at a pet store. Everyone is definitely going to ask him that, because the very idea that he would have a pet would probably baffle everyone, much less deciding to _work_ around a bunch of pets. Maybe he can make up some B.S. about him being inspired by Spider-man taking in that kitten. He's sure most of the people at school would believe him. Flash certainly will, knowing how big of a Spidey fanatic he is. 

Well, it's settled, then. Pet store it is. Hopefully he'll find one within the area, although he rather doubts this horrible area would even consider opening up a pet store. He doubts he would even work at any nearby even if they had a job opening. He may have to search farther into the city for a convincing place...

Oh dear lord.

Ugh.

The things he'll do for this kitten! Is this what it's like to be a pet owner?! He hasn't even known the kitten for a week and he's already smitten!

Then again...

He did say that it's blue eyes were a force to be reckoned with. He should have seen this coming from a mile away.


End file.
